Genuine and Borrowed Elements in Urdu

Urdu vocabulary contains words from many different origins. However, the bulk of it vocabulary consists of genuine words, whose history is traceable from the earliest stage of the language, i.e. from Sanskrit to modern times. Usually, these words designate common actions and common objects (body parts, relatives, natural phenomena etc.).

سر sir 'head'

آنکھ

aaNkh 'eye'

ماں

maaN 'mother'

بیٹا

beTaa 'son'

آگ

aag 'fire'

پانی

paanii 'water'

جانا

jaanaa 'to go'

دینا

denaa 'to give'

بولنا

bolnaa 'to speak'

Most pronouns are also genuine.

The most significant groups of borrowings in Urdu is made up of Persian and Arabic loanwords. All the words of Arabic origin were borrowed through Persian, not directly from Arabic. Therefore, the two groups have in fact one source of borrowing - the Persian language. For that reason, they are sometimes united in one group called Perso-Arabic.

Perso-Arabic loanwords are extremely numerous in Urdu. They have been penetrating into the language since the beginning of the 11th century, when North-Western India was conquered by the Muslim rulers of Iran and Afghanistan. As a result of this conquest, Persian became the official language in the area. It functioned in this capacity until the mid-19th century, when it was replaced by English. For this reason, the administrative terminology of Urdu is for the most part of Persian and Arabic origin. Many such terms were borrowed through Urdu by many other languages of the region. The following words are examples of Persian and Arabic loanwords belonging to the above-mentioned spheres:

حکومت

hukuumat 'government'

محکمہ

mahkama 'department'

وزیر

vaziir 'minister'

نگرانی

nigraanii 'control'

دفتر

daftar 'office'

قانون

qaanuun 'law'

عدالت

adaalat 'court (of justice)'

جرم

jurm 'crime'

The other important consequence of the Muslim conquest of India was the spread of Islam. With the new religion came new religious words entirely borrowed from Arabic and Persian:

خدا

kh'udaa 'God'

رب

rabb 'Lord'

دعا

duaa 'prayer'

گناہ

gunaah 'sin'

روزہ

roza 'fast'

مذھب

mazhab 'religion'

مقدس

muqaddas 'holy'

The Perso-Arabic vocabulary adopted by Urdu is not confined to special administrative or religious terms. For centuries, Urdu developed its literary tradition under an extremely strong influence of Persian - the main literary language of the medieval Muslim states of India. The process of borrowing was very intensive, and there are loanwords from Arabic and Persian pertaining to almost all the spheres of life. One may find even quite common words borrowed from these languages:

ھر

har 'every'

صرف

sirf 'only'

دوست

dost 'friend'

کتاب

kitaab 'book'

مدد

madad 'help'

Persian and Arabic influence has affected not only the vocabulary, but also the grammar. In the noun system, this influence has resulted in the fact that some borrowed nouns can form the direct plural according to Persian or Arabic rules. The plural of nouns borrowed from Persian can sometimes be formed by adding the Persian suffixes ان -aan and ہا -haa. The former is used with animate nouns and the latter is used with inanimate nouns:

مرد

mard 'a man'

مردان

mardaan 'men'

سال

saal 'a year'

سالہا

saalhaa 'years'

If a word ends in a long vowel, the suffix ان -aan takes the form یان -yaan:

دانا

daanaa 'a wise man, a sage'

دانایان

daanaayaan 'sages'

The only exception are words ending in the long vowel aa, when it is represented by the letter ہ (ha-e-havaaz).When such words form the plural with the above-mentioned suffix, the suffix takes the form گان -gaan. The vowel preceding this suffix is contracted:

باشندہ

baashindaa 'a dweller, an inhabitant'

باشندگان

baashindagaan 'dwellers, inhabitants'

راےدھندہ

raaydihindaa 'a voter'

راےدھندگان

raaydihindagaan 'voters'

Nouns of Arabic origin sometimes form the plural with the Arabic suffixes ین -iin and ات -aat:

ناظر

naazir 'an onlooker, a viewer'

ناظرین

naaziriin 'onlookers, viewers'

خیال

kh'ayaal 'a thought, an idea'

خیالات

kh'ayaalaat 'thoughts, ideas'

The plural of some Arabic borrowings is formed by different changes in the stem:

کتاب

kitaab 'a book'

کتب

kutub 'books'

حکیم

hakiim 'a physician'

حکما

hukamaa 'physicians'

قانون

qaanuun 'a law'

قوانین

qavaaniin 'laws'

All such forms should be memorized. Usually they are given in dictionaries.

Urdu adjectives of Persian and Arabic origin may form the comparative and superlative degrees according to Persian rules, i.e. by adding the suffixes تر-tar and ترین -tariin respectively:

کم

kam 'few'

کمتر

kamtar 'fewer'

کمترین

kamtariin 'the fewest'

مشکل

mushkil 'difficult'

مشکلتر

mushkiltar 'more difficult'

مشکلترین

mushkiltariin 'the most difficult'

When adjectives and nouns of Persian and Arabic origin function as attributes, they are sometimes used in the so-called izafet construction. This construction was borrowed from Persian and consists of an attribute, a special marker -e, and the word qualified by the attribute. This word always takes the final position in the construction, and an attribute with an izafet marker precedes it.

The marker -e is written in different ways. If it follows a word ending in the long vowel aa represented by the letter ہ (ha-e-havaaz), it is marked by a hamza above this letter:

محکمۂ مال

mahkama-e-maal 'finance department'

(محکمہ mahkama - 'department', مال maal 'commodity').

If the word that precedes the izafet marker ends in a vowel represented by ا (alif) or و (vaav), this marker is written as ئے:

پائے تخت

paa-e-takh't 'capital, metropolis'

(literally: 'the foundation of the throne', from پا paa 'a foundation, a basis, a foot' and تخت takh't 'a throne')

روئے زمین

ruu-e-zamiin 'the earth's surface'

(رو ruu 'face, surface', زمین zamiin 'earth')

In all other cases, the izafet is marked by ِ (zer) or (most often) is not marked at all:

اعلانِ جنگ

elaan-e-jang 'declaration of war'

(اعلان elaan 'declaration', جنگ jang 'war')

وزیر اعظم

vaziir-e-azam 'a prime-minister'

(وزیر vaziir 'a minister', اعظم azam 'the greatest')

Attributes expressed by borrowings from Arabic are sometimes combined with the words they qualify according to Arabic rules. In this situation, the attribute takes the final position in the word-combination and is preceded by the Arabic definite article ال ul. This article is always written attached to the word that follows it:

رسم الخط

rasm-ulkh'at 'script, spelling, orthography'

(رسم rasm 'usage, habit, custom', خط kh'at 'letter, writing, handwriting')

دار العلوم

daar-ululuum 'university'

(دار daar 'an abode', علوم uluum 'knowledge, sciences')

The pronunciation of the article is different in different cases and depends on the first sound of the word following it. If this sound is a consonant represented by one of the following 13 letters: ت, ث, د, ذ, ر, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, or ن, the final letter of the article (ل laam) is not pronounced, while the above-mentioned consonant is doubled. Thus:

دار الضرب

daar-uzzarb 'a mint'

(دار daar 'an abode', ضرب zarb 'coinage')

مالک الشعرا

maalik-ushshuaraa 'a great poet' (literally: 'a king of poets)

(مالک maalik 'a king, a ruler, a master', شعرا shuaraa 'poets')

دار السلطنت

daar-ussaltanat 'capital, metropolis'

(دار daar 'an abode', سلطنت saltanat 'kingdom, empire')

عبدالرحمان

abd-urrahmaan 'Abdurrahman' (a proper name)

سراج الدین

siraaj-uddiin 'Sirajuddin' (a proper name)

Borrowings from English form another important and fast increasing group of loanwords. English became the official language of India with the establishment of British rule in the 19th century. After the declaration of independence of Pakistan, it retained its status, and nowadays it is one of the two official languages of the country, along with Urdu. English is undoubtedly considered the most prestigious language in modern Pakistan. It is the dominant or even the only language in many spheres of social life (higher education, science, technical documentation, business, international contacts). Many schools use English as the only medium of instruction. People belonging to the educated class of Pakistan are entirely bilingual, i.e. their knowledge of English is exactly the same as that of their native language, or even higher. Sometimes they use English for their communication at home.

A very important consequence of this situation is the presence of a large number of English borrowings in all the languages of Pakistan, including Urdu. Most of them are special terms relating to science, technology, politics, administration, army, sports, or words denoting different phenomena of modern life:

ٹیلویژن

Teliviizhan 'television'

ریڈیو

reDiyo 'radio'

راکٹ

raakiT 'a rocket'

ووٹ

voT 'a vote'

پارٹی

paarTii 'a (political) party'

سٹاف

sTaaf 'staff'

مینجر

menijar 'a manager'

افسر

afsar 'an officer'

جنرل

janral 'a general'

ہاکی

haakii 'hockey'

کرکٹ

krikiT 'cricket'

ٹیم

Tiim 'a team'

بس

bas 'a bus'

سکول

skuul 'a school'

ڈاکٹر

DaakTar 'a doctor'

Many other English words can be heard in the speech of educated Urdu speakers. For example, someone might say:

میں آپ کو انوائٹ کرتا ھوں

maiN aap ko invaaiT kartaa huuN 'I invite you'

instead of normal

میں آپ کو مدعو کرتا ہوں

maiN aap ko maduu kartaa huuN